A general election has been called and the UK’s new prime minister could potentially be a University of Oxford graduate.

Current PM Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday afternoon that a General Election will be held on Thursday, July 4.

Mr Sunak, who has been Prime Minister since October 2022, has called the election after months of speculation about its date.

The current leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, hopes to be elected into power and end 14 years of Conservative rule.

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Oxford Mail: Sir Kier Starmer is the leader of the Labour Party.Sir Kier Starmer is the leader of the Labour Party. (Image: Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire)

Mr Starmer is originally from north London and grew up sharing a cramped, ramshackle “pebble-dash semi” with three siblings and a mother who was seriously ill for much of his childhood.

Named after the first Labour leader, Keir Hardie, his father, Rodney, was a toolmaker and his mother, Jo, an NHS nurse who suffered from a rare condition.

This left her with a debilitating form of rheumatoid arthritis normally associated with someone much older and, in constant pain, it meant that for much of his childhood she was in and out of hospital.

Difficulties at home did not stop him from doing well at school as he passed the 11-plus to gain a place at Reigate Grammar School.

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He won a place at Leeds studying law making him the first member of his family to go to university before earning a first honours and a place at Oxford on a postgraduate degree course in civil law.

In Oxford he undertook his studies at St Edmund Hall, graduating from the University of Oxford as a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) in 1986.

After being called to the bar in 1987, he enjoyed a long legal career before swapping fields to pursue politics professionally.

Rishi Sunak is also a graduate of the city’s university having studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating with a first in 2001.

Announcing the election, the Prime Minister said: "The king has granted the dissolution of parliament, and the election will be on 4 July."

In a sign that security and the economy will be key battlegrounds, Mr Sunak said: “This election will take place at time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War.”

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Oxford Mail: The Labour leader studied at the University of Oxford.The Labour leader studied at the University of Oxford.

The “uncertain times” call for a “clear plan”, he said.

A July election is earlier than many in Westminster had expected, with a contest in October or November widely thought to have been more likely.

Mr Sunak’s announcement came after the Office for National Statistics said Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation slowed to 2.3 per cent in April, down from 3.2 per cent in March.

He said that was a “major milestone” for the country, with inflation now “back to normal” levels.

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